Rio Flyball Training (Target)

I promised this video a few months ago, and only just got around to converting it. Rio is 14 weeks in this video (I think!) and this was our third target session. The whole session consisted of maybe 2-3 minutes with long breaks, so 3 mins of actual training over 15-20mins.

Just because a few people were asking, this is a breakdown of what you can see us doing:

0:00 – 0:18: Paw touches to the target on the floor, and then paw touches with the target held in different positions and places. Double-paw touches gets double treats. I was rewarding almost any paw interaction with the target. We did this for maybe 20s, and it was really just a recap of previous sessions.

0:18 – 0:24: Getting more specific. Double paw touches have to be on the target. This got the most cuts from the video as it wasn’t very exciting and was recapping the second session.

0:25 – 0:48: Double paw touches with the reward being given for turning back. Rio’s inclination is to turn right, hence why I have switched sides on the video. This was our first session on this step, and you can see a couple of times she dithers between focussing on the target and the food in my hand behind her. I stopped being quite so specific about the paw touches but increased criteria again on the next session.

Rio is now 5 months and is turning off the target which is taped to the wall. She only offers with her front paws as there is no momentum, although she will boxturn off bankings and doors when she’s excited anyway (not encouraged!). My position is almost exactly the same as in the final part of this video, only I am stood up and rewarding with the other hand (shoulder movement helps snap her off the target). We train maybe once every 10 days or so at the moment, and do 5-6 reps only. Chute work will begin soon!